disabilities

The Casper social services organization NOWCAP Casper is struggling to stay open, after Natrona County Commissioners signaled they would not support its bid for a federal contract to house former prisoners.

Dance class begins at 9 a.m. in the studio. The six students disappear and are replaced by dancing cowboys, swaying and lassoing to the beat of the song.

Instructor Kayc DeMaranville leads. She helps them coordinate their bodies to the rhythm. The students are lost in the music, spinning, kicking, waving their arms. Student Eric Petersen loves to dance. He says it makes his body feel “a little bit of good.”

In late July President Obama signed the Workforce Opportunity and Innovation Act. The bill is designed to get people with disabilities working in commercial businesses, and get them out of service provider owned companies, known as “sheltered workshops.” State officials here in Wyoming are on board with these changes, but some providers say closing sheltered workshops will leave people with disabilities with few options.

The Wyoming House of Representatives has finished its version of a massive Medicaid reform bill.

The bill will create two tiers in the current Development Disability waiver program. That means that people who need fewer services will not be allocated more funding then they need.

House Labor and Health Committee Chairwoman Elaine Harvey says that change will allow more people to benefit from the program. She says they also have made reforms to long-term care that should better help Wyoming residents.